r/columbia

Is it worth taking on loans to dorm at Columbia as a full-time student? I live in North Jersey. I've been commuting to campus but don't have any friends, haven't joined any activities yet, and don't have any internships, nor have I done any research. I feel like I'm not getting enough from Columbia's resources, but I feel I shouldn't take on any loans, especially in this economy. At the same time, if it can land me a good, stable job, I could easily pay it back. I’m an undergraduate student. Sorry for my wrong flair.

Hey, I’m an incoming student and I don’t have access to Vergil yet. Would anyone be willing to check the days/times elementary Spanish 1 is being offered this fall? I’m informally putting together a class schedule as I wait for my deposit to clear. Thank you!

How do you afford attending GS with housing without taking out loans since it’s forbidden in Islam? GS financial aid is very limited..

What can one do to increase the financial aid?

I'm an incoming freshman and was just assigned a Furnald single. What's it like and how should I prepare for move-in day? Any tips, both Furnald-specific and general, would be greatly appreciated <3

I am currently an undergrad at CC and want to pursue a career in health law.

Option 1: Anthro Major and PoliSci Minor.

With this combination, I think I would be a slightly more unique profile for law school. I would also be able to complete a senior thesis related to health law (and therefore maybe win honors). Also, Anthropology would be the slightly easier major to keep my GPA up.

I'm just worried that Anthropology is one of the least employable majors. Would this mean it would be harder to find work in the legal field during a gap year? Also, would this basically mean that I am fully invested in going to law school for any sort of career stability?

Option 2: PoliSci Major and Anthro Minor

With this combination, I would be less unique for a law school applicant profile. And, PoliSci at Columbia is a very competitive major so I would be more of a middling student with less chance at being chosen to write a senior thesis. However, I think PoliSci has more lucrative/stable career options if I don't go to law school.

Overall, I'm pretty committed to the idea of going to law school. I am studying for the Notary exam in my state, have a legal internship lined up for next summer, and medical research to cover the "health" side of things. It's also worth noting that by the time I finish college, I will be fluent in English, Chinese (already speak), and Spanish (Intermediate). I will also have saved up enough money to spend my gap year in South America, ideally working for a non-profit.

I've heard that neither major is particularly employable right now, PoliSci to law school is an oversaturated pipeline. I'd like the combination that gives me the best chance at going to law school, but also good fall-back options.

Thanks!

Hi would anyone be interested in free Columbia regalia? I’m 5’4 . If you can meet by the cloisters would be helpful , but we can schedule for on campus if it’s easier

Thanks!

got wien single for freshman year. how bad is it? it was my 5th choice and i was not expecting to get it. many people don’t like this dorm i’m guessing because of the location but how bad is it for freshman year especially in terms of socializing??

my.columbia still has nothing for me but i was wondering if there’s another place where we could do that bc my friends going to other schools can see their scores in their portal already

I am a sophomore transfer so I wanted McBain, but I got 600w113. I'm pretty sure it was second in my ranking because of the private bathroom option and closeness to campus. There are a lot of sophomores there so I'm not too worried about that, but I do worry about having no air conditioning.

My questions are:

- What is it like overall to live there?

- What is it like to have no air conditioning?

- Is swapping an option or is that only for first-year?

pretty much just the title. i was on the guaranteed housing list and just got my assignment

I got my room assignment today (im a freshman) and i have a walk-in double in jj with the room on the inside. Its nice that its a bigger room but i hate that id have to walk through my roomates room just to leave. I think id rather just have a normal single.

I got assigned a single in Wien and honestly would much rather be in the middle of the action for freshman year. If you're in a Carman double and thinking a single sounds nice, let's talk — happy to swap.

I'm outgoing, love meeting people, down to be a good roommate, and would rather be close to the quad than tucked away solo. If that trade sounds good to you (or you know someone who wants a Wien single), shoot me a direct message!

I’ve gotten a few PMs asking how I managed to keep both breadth and depth while doing a double major, so I figured I’d share my experience here.

Some context: before coming to GS, I had taken a lot of advanced coursework at universities in other country during first two 2 and then take 2 years gap. My previous program was basically a double major in Applied Math and Computer Engineering plus some physics courses. After I hit Columbia’s 60-credit transfer cap, a lot of those courses could still be used to waive requirements, even though they didn’t count for credit anymore.

That actually gave me a lot of flexibility. Once a requirement is waived, you can often use that space to take more advanced courses you’re actually interested in. For example, CS and Stats both allow many requirements to be fulfilled by pretty much any 4000-level or higher courses, depending on the exact requirement.

My main major was Math. I had Calc, Linear Algebra, Intro Modern Analysis I, and Intro Modern Algebra I waived, so for the math major I basically only had Intro Modern Analysis II, Intro Modern Algebra II, and a seminar left as fixed requirements. Everything else was open.

Since some Columbia classes are only offered in the fall and others only in the spring, I planned around both timing and interest. I’m more into pure math, especially algebra, so I ended up taking Topology, Intro to Algebraic Topology, Algebraic Curves, and Algebraic Number Theory. At the 6000 level, I took Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry.

One thing I’d recommend is supervised reading. If there’s a professor you like and a topic you want to study more seriously, it can be a really good way to go deeper than a regular class.

For CS, I mostly took 4000–6000 level classes. I’m honestly less interested in CS than math, but overall the CS major is pretty flexible once you get past the core requirements.

Stats was even more flexible. There are two tracks. The applied track is mostly very straightforward. The theory track lets you use basically any 4000-level stats courses to satisfy the requirements. If you’re comfortable with R, I’d personally recommend the theory track, because I didn’t feel like the 2000-level classes added that much.

I also did a philosophy minor. Because of AI, I got more interested in formal proof and logic, so I took logic-related classes like Model Theory. Philosophy is also quite flexible, since almost any philosophy class can count toward the minor.

A note on double counting: Core can double count two classes with another major or minor. CS is very strict about double counting aside from calculus and probability/statistics, they basically don’t allow overlap. Stats is much more relaxed: if the other department allows it, Stats usually doesn’t object.

I wasn't a big fan of the Core, and essay writing has never really been my strong suit, so I don't have much to say about that part. Overall, though, I think GS was definitely worth the cost.

I got assigned a Carmen single, and I have a couple of questions. I ranked Carmen last because I wanted a single (but I still got assigned one), and I'm not really a party person and like quiet time.

I'm just wondering what the Carmen Hall culture is like. I like hanging out with people and can be pretty extroverted, but not anything crazy. Thank you!

i want to stay fit and continue building muscle while at columbia

for those who have had similar goals: how did you navigate this challenge?

did you eat at the dining hall? does the food at the dining hall have nutrition information listed? did you make your own food? are there restaurants you eat at nearby that have accurate measurements? are there food items that are persistent across all days at any of the dining halls?

any advice and tips is appreciated (on nutrition but also fitness as a whole and making time for it while at columbia [i.e. what times the gym is most busy, how long workouts usually take, etc.])

(mainly concerned abt the macro tracking part tho)

I have a walk in double (with the bigger room at the end) in John jay but Id rather have a single in wallach or John jay

I graduated from Barnard in 2018 and have visited campus a few times since graduation. I don’t live in the city anymore and don’t read any of the alumni emails (both CAA and Barnard’s) that I receive. I was in Morningside heights today with a friend from college (CC ‘18) and was surprised to learn that as a Barnard alumna I was not allowed to visit campus! My friend asked if she could get a guest pass for me and we were denied. To be honest, it was pretty disheartening, alienating, and sad. I’m not someone who wants to relive college but sometimes it’s nice to just walk around. It’s a beautiful campus and it’s a shame we’re not allowed to visit.